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Intelligence Literature: Suggested Reading List

This brief bibliography of intelligence literature provides a wide spectrum of views on intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency. The readings cover history, technology, opinion, and some of the key personalities associated with intelligence. The book lists offer the reader personal and academic views on intelligence, its role in national security, and the forces that have shaped it over the years.

A comprehensive study of how politics, institutions, and personalities influenced the DCI's ability to oversee the Intelligence Community.

Ted Gup

The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives

New York: Random House, 2000

Journalist Ted Gup presents the stories of many of the CIA officers who died in the service of their country.

Loch K. Johnson

The Central Intelligence Agency: History and Documents.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Johnson, a professor at the University of Georgia who worked for the Church Committee, discusses both the history of the Agency and the theory of intelligence as he grapples with the issues of secret intelligence in a free society.

Ronald Kessler

The CIA At War: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror.

New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003

A look at the major events of the Agency from the 1980s to the present based mainly on interviews with DCIs and former Agency personnel.

William M. Leary, ed.

The Central Intelligence Agency: History and Documents.

Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1984.

This book reprints Anne Karalekas's "History of the Central Intelligence Agency," originally published in Book IV of the Church Committee's report. Leary has added an introduction and an appendix of historical documents.

G. J. A. O'Toole

Honorable Treachery: A History of Intelligence, Espionage, and Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA.

New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1991.

A wide-ranging study by a former Agency officer places intelligence in general and the CIA in particular in historical context.

John Ranelagh

The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.

A comprehensive and well-researched history of the CIA written by a British author, this work provides a sharp description of the people and events that created the Agency.

Washington, D.C.: CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1999.

A look at the beginnings of the Cold War from the front lines of Berlin.

Thomas F. Troy

Donovan and the CIA: A History of the Establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1981.

Troy studies the concept of centralized intelligence from 1939-1947 and describes the bureaucratic battles involved in trying to establish a central intelligence organization. He had access to many classified documents, some of which appear in the book.

Michael Warner, ed.

The CIA Under Harry Truman

Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1994.

A valuable collection of primary documents that shed light on CIA's creation.

Michael Warner

The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency.

Washington, D.C.: CIA History Staff , Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2000.

Biographies & Memoirs

A biography of legendary CIA case officer George Kisevalter, who handled the extremely important Soviet assets Pyotr Popov and Oleg Penkousky.

Mary Bancroft

Autobiography of a Spy.

New York: Morrow, 1983.

The author worked for Allen Dulles in Switzerland in World War II.

Victor Cherkashin with Gregory Feifer

Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer

New York: Basic Books, 2005

When CIA officer Aldrich Ames and FBI special agent Robert Hanssen offered their services to the KGB, Victor Cherkashin was the man they encountered in the Washington Embassy. He tells his side of the story in this memoir.

Duane R. Clarridge with Digby Diehl

A Spy For All Seasons: My Life in the CIA

Dulles, VA: Brassey’s, 2004

Colorful “Dewey” Clarridge was the role model for a dynamic case officer in the CIA that DCI Bill Casey wanted. Their interaction makes good reading as does the balance of Clarridge’s career during some turbulent times in the Cold War.

Robert M. Gates

From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Gates, a former Director of the CIA, gives an autobiographical look at the White House and National Security planning and policy during the five administrations in which he served.

Tom Gilligan

CIA Life: 10,000 Days with the Agency.

Connecticut: Foreign Intelligence Press, 1991.

The author covers his 28-year career from his recruitment through his training as a CIA operations officer, culminating with his assignment as chief of applicant recruitment in New England.

Peter Grose

Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

A biography of the Director who many consider a "legendary figure".

Richard Helms with William Hood

A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency.

New York: Random House, 2003.

Richard Helms, former OSS officer and longtime Director of Central Intelligence, looks at his career and world of intelligence. Helms reviews his role in many operations and discusses the relationship of the Agency with the White House and Congress.

James Lilley with Jeffrey Lilley

China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage and Diplomacy.

New York: Public Affairs, 2004

A look at America's involvement in East Asia through the eyes of an operations officer who rose through the ranks to become the first Chief of Station in China and eventually Ambassador to that country

Richard L. Holm

The American Agent: My Life in the CIA.

London: St. Ermin's Press, 2003.

What is involved in being a CIA operations officer through the eyes of a retired officer. This book reviews an entire career, the type of training, various assignments, family considerations, and retirement considerations.

David Kahn

The Reader of Gentleman's Mail: Herbert O. Yardley and the Birth of American Codebreaking.

New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

The story of the man who revolutionized code breaking in America, making it part of peace time intelligence gathering and not just for war.

Oleg Kalugin

Spymaster: My 32 years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West.

New York: Basic Books, 2009.

The head of the former KGB tells about life in the intelligence world on the other side.

Patrick E. Kennon

The Twilight of Democracy.

New York: Doubleday, 1995.

The author offers the lessons he learned from his 25 years as a global political analyst for the CIA.

Tom Mangold

Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton: The CIA's Master Spy Hunter.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991.

Mangold is a BBC producer whose biography of the CIA's famous head of counterintelligence will probably hold the field until the Agency releases its files on such topics as the investigation of Soviet defectors' claims.

Antonio J. Mendez

The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA.

New York: Morrow, 1999.

The story of the ex-operative whose blend of artistry and insight saved many lives in the field.

Ludwell Lee Montague

General Walter Bedell Smith as Director of Central Intelligence.

University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992.

The biography of the DCI credited with defining the Agency's structure and mission in its early years.

Floyd L. Paseman

A Spy’s Journey: A CIA Memoir

St. Paul, MN: Zenith Press, 2004

A fine candid account of how a young man comes to join the CIA’s clandestine service, raise a family, and rise to high position after a number of careers ups and downs.

Joseph E. Persico

Casey: From the OSS to the CIA.

New York: Viking Penguin, 1990.

The biography of William J. Casey, Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987.

David Atlee Phillips

The Night Watch: 25 Years of Peculiar Service.

New York: Atheneum, 1977.

The memoirs of a senior CIA operations officer whose career involved many of the Agency's most important covert activities.

Thomas Powers

The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms and the CIA.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979.

An account of the evolution of CIA as seen in the professional career of Richard Helms, from his OSS service in World War II through his years as Director of Central Intelligence from 1966-1973.

John Prados

Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

The story of the career of the former OSS officer and Director of Central Intelligence, William Colby, who served during a controversial period in the Agency's history.

Evan Thomas

The Very Best Men--Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA.

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.

Written by the first "outsider" allowed to see the CIA's own secret histories of its operations in the first twenty years of its existence. This book relates how the Agency saw itself through the eyes of the men who made the history.

George Tenet

At the Center of the Storm.

New York: HarperLuxe, 2007.

The controversial memoir by the DCI whose tenure spanned 9/11, the fall of the Taliban, the Iraq WMD debate, and the first phase of the war in Iraq.

Stansfield Turner

Secrecy and Democracy--The CIA in Transition.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.

The author reviews his controversial tenure as DCI under President Carter. He discusses the problems involved in operating a secret intelligence organization in a democratic society.

Markus Wolf

Man Without a Face: The Autobiography of Communism's Great Spymaster.

New York: Random House, 1997.

The story of the head of the East German foreign intelligence service, one of the most professional and successful opponents faced by the CIA.

Women in Intelligence

Ann Blackman

Wild Rose: Rose O'Neale Greenhow, Civil War Spy.

New York: Random House, 2006.

Sarah Helm

A Life In Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE

London: Little Brown, 2005

In the “man’s world” of WWII European intelligence, Atkins rose quickly to a key position in Britain’s Special; Operations Executive (SOE) selecting agents and sending them to Europe. After the war she went searching for those who hadn't returned. This book tells her story.

Mary S. Lovell

Cast No Shadow: The Life of the American Spy Who Changed the Course of World War II.

New York: Pantheon Books, 1992.

The story of Amy Elizabeth Thorpe Pack who spied for the British Security Coordination and the Office of Strategic Services. Her work led to the acquisition of the Italian and French naval ciphers prior to America's landing in North Africa and other critical data.

Melissa Boyle Mahle

Denial and Deception: An Insider’s View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11

New York, Nation Books, 2004

The author was a successful operations officer in the CIA’s clandestine service. In he book she tells how that came about, what the training was like, and share some of her experiences in espionage.

Elizabeth P. McIntosh

Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS.

Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1998.

Veteran of the OSS, Elizabeth McIntosh relates her own experiences and those of fellow OSS women in this book that reveals interesting stories and long kept secrets from WWII.

Judith Pearson

Wolves At The Door : The True Story of America’s Greatest Female Spy

Guildford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2005

Pearson tells the story of American Virginia Hall who became first a British agent with the French resistance, then an OSS officer behind the Nazi lines, and finally a CIA officer. All this despite the slight handicap of her wooden leg. She was the only woman in WWII to receive the Distinguished Service Cross.

Tammy M. Proctor

Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War.

New York: New York University Press, 2003.

This book examines several important but little known espionage cases involving female spies during WWI.

Margaret Rossiter

Women in the Resistance.

New York: Praeger, 1991.

Stories of the Allied women who were part of the WWII resistance movement behind German lines.

Elizabeth R. Varon

Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, A Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy

New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

New details from archives highlight this biography of this very successful Union agent who lived in the South.

Operations: Espionage

Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin

The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB.

New York: Basic Books, 1999

This book is based on KGB archival documents describing people and operations in the West from the 1920s to 1984. There is much new here; spies are exposed, operations described and KGB procedures detailed. A monumental contribution to Cold War espionage history.

Christopher Andrew and Vasli Mitrokhin

The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB Battle For the Third World

New York: Basic Books, 2005

This is the second volume based on Mitrokhin’s documents stolen from the KGB archives and leaves no doubt as to Soviet strategic objectives in the Third World.

Milt Bearden and James Risen

The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Final Showdown with the KGB

New York: Random House, 2003

A best treatment in one book of the Aldrich Ames and Roberts Hanssen cases, CIA operations in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, and the career of a well-known case officer.

James H. Critchfield

Partners At The Creation: The Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishments.

Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2004.

The story of how CIA post WWII assisted Germany in establishing their foreign intelligence service.

Christopher Felix [pseudonym for James McCarger]

A Short Course in the Secret War.

New York: Dell Books, 1988.

Second edition. (revised)

A textbook of basic espionage techniques, tradecraft, and day-to day operations in the world of spies.

William Hood

Mole.

New York: W. W. Norton, 1987.

This story about a Russian mole in the Soviet military intelligence service and his CIA case officer illustrates the use of tradecraft in espionage.

David E. Murphy, Sergei A. Kondrashev, and George Bailey

Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War.

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.

Definitive account of intelligence operations in Berlin written by a trio of insiders, Murphy (CIA), Kondrashev (KGB) and Bailey (journalist and intelligence officer). The authors had access to CIA and KGB archives.

Candid review of Agency clandestine activities during the first 30 years of the Cold War by a former CIA operations officer.

Jerrold L. Schechter and Peter Deriabin

The Spy Who Saved the World: How a Soviet Colonel Changed the Course of the Cold War.

New York: Scribner's, 1992.

The story of how Col. Oleg Penkovsky, a GRU officer working jointly for the CIA and the British, passed secrets about the Soviet missile program to the U.S. in the early 1960's. Penkovsky's efforts were instrumental in shaping the response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Schechter had access to newly declassified CIA files on Penkovsky.

Benjamin Weiser

A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save His Country.

New York: Public Affairs, 2004.

The biography of the Polish Army Colonel who became the CIA's most important asset during the tumultuous Solidarity period.

An experienced covert action operations officer tells what today’s covert actions involve and how they work under the constraints imposed by Congress.

Roy Godson

Dirty Tricks or Trump Cards: U.S. Covert Action and Counterintelligence.

Washington: Brassey's, 1996.

Godson takes a look at counterintelligence and covert action during the past 45 years. Though both elements aren't always grouped together, this book establishes the author's opinion that the combination of the two helped this country achieve many objectives not possible through conventional means.

Frank Holober

Raiders of the China Coast: CIA Covert Operations During the Korean War (Special Warfare Series).

Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999.

The world of clandestine partisan operations during the Korean War.

Cord Meyer

Facing Reality: From World Federalism to the CIA.

New York: Harper & Row, 1980.

The story of the career of a Yale graduate and World War II Marine hero whose postwar idealism finally brought him to the CIA, where he became a senior operations officer and head of its covert action operations.

John Prados

Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA.

Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006.

A recently revised version of Prados's comprehensive, critical overview of U.S. presidents' reliance on Agency and military covert actions to achieve foreign policy objectives.

Kermit Roosevelt

Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran.

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1979.

Story of the Agency's most notorious covert action that involved the coup that overthrew Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq in August 1953. Roosevelt, one of the Agency's Iranian experts, was in charge of the operation.

These imaginative articles discus various analytic techniques and concepts that suggest ways current practices can be improved, and the problems of dealing with vast amounts of open source and classified data.

A look at analysis and the theory and practice of intelligence, written in 1949 by an OSS veteran and Yale professor who helped establish CIA's Board of National Estimates in 1950 and led that office for many years.

An investigation and analysis of the facts and incidents that led to 9/11, with recommendations for organizational changes that eventually led to t he creation of the Director of National; Intelligence.

Sundri Khalsa

Forecasting Terrorism: Indications of Proven Analytic Techniques

Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press: 2004.

A book for beginners on what to look for when thinking about potential terrorist acts.

Peter Lance

1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI – The Untold Story

New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

A well documented account of the events leading up to 9/11 with emphasis on the role of the FBI.

Gary Schroen

First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan

New York: Ballantine Books, 2005.

Within hours of the 9/11 attacks, Gary Schroen was planning to take a team to Afghanistan to support the resistance and assess the situation on the ground. This book is his firsthand account of those 40 days.

Michael Scheur

Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror.

Washington, DC: Brassey's Inc., 2004.

A former CIA official's views on the U.S. intelligence and foreign policy community's approach to counterterrorism.

Stansfield Turner

Terrorism and Democracy

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991

Former DCI Turner lays out his views on what would become the nations number one threat after 9/11.

Lorenzo Vidino with a Foreword by Steven Emerson

Al Qaeda in Europe: The New Battleground of International Jihad

Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2006

A view of al-Qaeda from various national perspectives with a discussion of how each plans to deal with the threat.

General Interest

Knowing Your Friends: Intelligence Inside Alliances and Coalitions from 1914 to the Cold War (Cass Series-Studies in Intelligence).

London; Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1998.

A study on how intelligence is used to understand allies as well.

David M. Barrett

The CIA And Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy

Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas, 2005

A well documented treatment of the sometimes stormy relationship between the law makers and the early intelligence community.

Bruce D. Berkowitz and Allen E. Goodman

Best Truth: Intelligence in the Information Age

New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000

The authors look at the problems in today’s intelligence community and suggest what can be done to correct the problems they identify.

Peter Berkowitz (ed.)

The Future of American Intelligence

Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2005

This book contains a series of provocative articles that make suggestions for the future on a broad range topics from intelligence and the Congress, to counterintelligence, basic espionage, counterinsurgency intelligence, and the problems that come with major reorganizations.

Allen Dulles

The Craft of Intelligence.

New York: Harper and Row, 1963.

Dulles presents the history of intelligence, describes techniques of espionage and counterespionage, and discusses the role of intelligence in international events from World War II through 1961.

John J. Fialka

War By Other Means: Economic Espionage in America.

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.

An examination of American industry in the post-cold war world becoming the target of foreign governments and corporations seeking to drain its brains and technology.

Oleg Gordievsky and Christopher Andrew

KGB, The Inside Story of its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev.

New York: Harper Collins, 1990.

A history of the KGB and the career of one of its senior officers who for eleven years was one of the West's most important spies.

Frederick P. Hitz

The Great Game: The Myth and Reality of Espionage.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

A contrasting look between the reality versus the fictional treatment of espionage from a former CIA officer's point of view.

Loch Johnson and James Wirtz (eds.)

Strategic Intelligence: Windows Into a Secret World—An Anthology

Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2004.

A collection of articles that discuss the major issues of strategic intelligence—covert action, espionage, liaison with foreign services, and the problems of politicalization.

Reference

Rodney P. Carlisle, (ed.)

Encyclopedia of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, 2 volumes

Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2006

Includes short commentary on the famous and important cases of espionage and gives the student a basis for further research. As with all encyclopedias, important details are sometimes in error and should be checked before citing.

George Constantinides

Intelligence and Espionage: An Analytical Bibliography

Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983

Though somewhat out of date, this remains a fine bibliography with crisp incisive comments for many important books.

Charles E. Lathrop

The Literary Spy: The Ultimate Source for Quotations on Espionage and Intelligence

New Haven: CT: Yale University Press, 2004

This unique book offers 3,000 quotations on the intelligence profession arranged in 64 categories.

G. J. A. O'Toole

The Encyclopedia of American Intelligence and Espionage

New York: Facts on File, 1988.

Compendium of the people, events, terms and tools that played a role in the history of intelligence in America.

Neal H. Petersen

American Intelligence, 1775-1990: A Bibliographical Guide

Claremont, CA: Regina Books: 1992

The most comprehensive bibliographic treatment of the topic with entries in categories for easier identification. Though not annotated, this volume gives a good idea of what was available until the end of the Cold War.

Dan C. Pinck, Geoffrey M.T. Jones, and Charles T. Pinck

Stalking the History of the Office of Strategic Services: An OSS Bibliography.

Boston: The OSS/Donovan Press, 2000.

A comprehensive guide to books about the OSS.

Norman Polmar

Spy Book:The Encyclopedia of Espionage

New York: Random House, 2004

By far the best of the espionage encyclopedias, though not without some relatively small detail errors.

A definitive collection of declassified documents on the events and legislation that created CIA.

Bruce W. Watson

United States Intelligence: An Encyclopedia.

New York: Garland Publishers, 1990.

Listing of terms and events pertinent to the world of intelligence gathering.

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